The Mystery Book: Sarah Fader Private Investigator Strikes Again!
The other day I received a curious package in the mail. It came in a bubble wrapped envelope with my name pre-printed on the label. There was no company listed on the return address, but instead a random P.O.Box in St. Cloud Minnesota. The package was labeled "time sensitive."I was confused and slightly frightened. Despite my fear, I ripped open the package and found this:Needless to say, I was perplexed and a little more scared. So I decided to to further research on the origin of this book. I took a closer look at the return address and noted the zip code in Minnesota. I googled post offices in the St. Cloud area and got the appropriate office on the phone."Hello," I began tentatively. "I received a random package from your post office from P.O. Box 3000. Can you tell me who owns P.O.Box 3000?" "Oh, that is from a marketing company." said the friendly Minnesota postal worker on the other end. "They send out a ton of packages. You musta signed up for somethin' and they got your address.""Okay," I said now even more confused "Can you tell me who this company is and how to contact them?" I [...]
Bogus Free Cooking Class Part II – The Joys of Having a Jewish Mother
My mom read my blog about my experience with Hain Celestial and was angered by the customer service that I received. She called the company's 800 number and spoke to Patty, a supervisor at their company.She informed Patty about her daughter's poor customer service experience. She also told Patty about her daughter's mom blog where Earth's Best was mentioned positively several times.My mom is a retired Public Relations professional who is ready to bring out her arsenal of marketing tricks at any moment. This moment was no exception. She told Patty that she was not only my proud mother, but she was also the editor of my blog.Additionally, she informed Patty, that as a consumer of Earth's Best and someone who speaks to the public, it would be wise to have me on their side.Patty was taken aback by the public relations savvy Jewish mother she had on the phone. She had a moment of silence and then told my unphased mother that she would "report this situation to her director." so it could be "resolved as quickly as possible."Thank you mom. I don't know what I would do without you. You amaze me everyday with your crafty P.R. techniques.So [...]
Bogus Free Cooking Class
The other day, I was in the kitchen unloading my excessively healthy groceries. I went to put the organic sugar on the shelf when I noticed a sticker on the back of the bag; it read:"FREE COOKING CLASS."Well, you can imagine how excited I was. I love free things and I love to cook! So I read the terms and conditions of the offer. It told me that I needed to collect $10 worth of proof of purchase UPC labels from the Hain Celestial company. This company includes: Earth's Best, Arrowhead Mills, Spectrum, Hain and many more sub-headings.I might as well hold stock in Earth's Best at this point, so it was an easy feat. But then, to my dismay, I lost the label advertising the cooking class! So I did what any internet savvy person would do; I googled the class. I found the offer advertised in three seconds, here.When I went to the site, I immediately realized that I could not cash in on the offer, because I lost the sticker which contained the secret code that enabled me to take the class! I thought to myself:I can't just give up! It's a free cooking class!So I contacted [...]
The Snack Trap
When you have kids, you carry a lot of things with you when you travel. As a result, many of these things tend to get lost. One day, after having my son's playgroup over to my apartment, I found all sorts of remaining items; a yellow baby spoon, a baby sock and this; a plastic container that resembled a tea cup. My good friend Josina and her son Nelson left this curious contraption behind.I was immediately intrigued and took a closer look.The container had slits on its cover resembling the way that one might slice an orange. All of a sudden I had memory flash; I recalled that Nelson was reaching his hand into this cup and eating Cheerios by himself. So I decided that I would place some Cheerios into the contraption and see if my son would do the same. He did!This was incredibly exciting to me. For months now I have been cleaning the remains of Cheerios and their brethren off of the floor of my apartment. This container cut down the Cheerio debris considerably. My son was able to eat his snack without creating an enormous mess.The container advertised a website: http://www.snacktrap.com. I decided to take [...]
My Son, The Bully
I went away for the weekend to a place where my son was around many children. We were in the suburbs, and we often found ourselves hanging out in the backyard. Being a city kid, my son has limited access to greenery so we take what we can get.He quickly became obsessed with a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe; a toddler sized plastic car that had a door he could open and close himself. He would open the door, get into the car, and then close the door and move the steering wheel around for a few seconds. Then he would re-open the door, exit the car and repeat the process several times. He loved it.He was having a ball; until the rightful owner of the car (an 18 month old boy) attempted to go for a ride. My son became frustrated. He thought the car was his! What was this other child doing trying to drive his car?My son did not stand for this boy usurping ownership of the car. He promptly crawled up to the 18 month old, grabbed his hair and pulled it as hard as he could. I was horrified. I ran up to my child and [...]
Sigg Water Bottles For Kids!
Let me begin by saying that I intentionally seek out products that I feel would be of interest and would benefit my readers. Many times, a product that I write about is one that I already use, myself. Sometimes, friends or other mothers recommend products to me.As a mom, I am conscious of health concerns for my son. Recently I have been made aware (through my environmentally conscious friend, Mint and multiple news sources) of the dangers of plastic bottles. Drinking bottled water poses certain health risks. When you drink a plastic bottle of water you are ingesting a percentage of plastic.There have been many concerns specifically associated with plastic children's products as well. When you look at the packaging on sippy cups, many of them read "BPA free." BPA is a harmful chemical that leaches into plastic, and has been found in baby bottles and some sippy cups.Sigg, a Swiss based company, has created a durable metal water bottle that does not leach harmful chemicals into your water. In fact, you can put just about any beverage into a Sigg bottle and drink it; then you can rinse it out, refill your bottle with a different beverage and there [...]
The Adventures of Egreck and Ari
When I was pregnant many concerned people told me:"You know, once you have a baby, you have to give up your cats!""Cats try to kill babies in their sleep.""Cats are jealous of babies. Be careful!"Well, to all those people that were so worried about my cats hurting my baby I offer you this; Exhibit A:And Exhibit B:That blob of black fur next to my son is Egreck, my incredibly docile and friendly cat. He loves my son and my son loves him. In fact, Egreck has always been curious about babies. When I was pregnant he did not know what to make of my enormous round belly.To clear the myth up about babies and cats being enemies, I've decided to write a children's book about it entitled: The Adventures of Egreck and Ari. Egreck is the main cat in the story and Ari is my son.It starts when I am pregnant:And then it continues on to describe how both my cats reacted to my son's birth and prescence in the house. Here are Egreck and Simon (my other more reserved cat) waiting for me to come home. At this point all relevant human parties are at the hospital involved in [...]
Naot Sea: The Best Shoe For Moms on the Go!
As the mother of a 14 month old, I am always on the move. Whether I am taking my son out on a marathon stroller walk in Prospect Park or working as a substitute teacher for the New York City Department of Education, I am constantly on my feet. I realized that I needed a shoe that would keep up with all of my activities.Over the years I have heard people talk about Naot shoes; how comfortable they are and how they last for years on end.My curiosity was piqued one day, yet again, when I was substitute teaching at an elementary school on Manhattan's Upper West Side. I was conversing with a kindergarten teacher and I immediately noticed her shoes. I couldn't look away, these were seriously the coolest shoes I had ever seen! They were a Mary Jane style but they stood out because they had a unique swirl design on the toe.It was "shoe love" at first sight. I had to have these shoes. So I asked this teacher what these unique looking shoes were called. She told me that they were made by Naot and the style was called Sea. I was on a mission to [...]
Swimming, Swiming in a Swimming Pool!
Yesterday a momentous thing happened; my son went swimming for the first time ever! My great friend and I decided that it was just too hot outside and the only solution to the heat and humidity was to go swimming...in New Jersey.So we took a trip to the Palisades Park Swimming Pool. Located in Palisades Park, New Jersey just an hour away from downtown Brooklyn and 30-40 minutes from Manhattan, the pool costs only $10 for an entire day of swimming. If you go during the week it is sufficiently less crowded then the weekend. They do not have a website, but for more information about the Palisades Park Pool, call (201) 585-4140.The pool grounds are such a pleasant environment. There are three separate pools, One large one, one small one for children, and one specifically for people swimming laps. In addition to the pools, the grounds have a snack bar, picnic tables, grass to sit on and a small playground containing baby swings, a slide and climbing equipment.Since my son is only 14 months old, I was nervous about putting him in an enormous pool. I was nervous but my boyfriend was a wreck. My boyfriend was getting ready [...]
A Tantrum Victory
This morning I was cooking chicken drumsticks for my boyfriend to take to work for lunch. I was in and out of the kitchen and my son was crawling all around the living room during this time finding interesting things to play with.I re-entered the living room and he approached me, lifted his arms up to indicate that he wanted to be picked up. I obliged, gave him a hug and a kiss and then I heard the the timer beep in the kitchen. I went to put my son back down on the floor. He arched his back, began crying and flailing his limbs uncontrollably."Here we go again." I thought to myself. But then I thought, "Let me try something." So I carefully placed him on the floor and said "goodbye." in a very matter of fact way. I wanted to communicate to him that if he was going to act in an out of control way, then I would not be around him.Guess what? It worked. He cried for three seconds, got up and began searching for new and exciting objects to play with.Victory! One point for mommy!
Mommy! Where Did You Go?
Ah babies! They always keep you on your toes. If its not teething, gas, excretion of some kind or all the other wonderful things that come along with being a mom, it's this; separation anxiety.My son will be 14 months in July. Shortly after his first birthday he has started to cling to me like super glue.He used to sleep through the night incredibly well, but lately when I put him to bed at 7pm he screams and screams until I go into the room and remind him that I still exist; I haven't left him for good.And it doesn't stop there. When I leave him with anyone other than myself, even to go to the next room, he freaks out; screaming and crying. It is intense. Eventually he calms down after a minute or so, but you should see the relief on his face when I come back in the room.Separation anxiety is normal; particularly at his age. Typically the onset of separation anxiety occurs anywhere between 12 and 18 months but can occur as early as nine months.Just because it's normal doesn't mean that it isn't exhausting for both parent and child. For my part I am glad [...]
What Lovely Teeth You Have!
I have been writing this mom blog for some time now, and I cannot believe that I have never addressed the issue of teething! It's such a common annoyance that both babies and moms alike have to deal with.Lucky me, my son began teething at 3 months old. His first two teeth (the bottom ones) emerged at 4 months of age. At the time, I was still nursing. After dealing with mastitis (a breast infection) now I had to contend with teeth on my breasts.Many people questioned my devotion to breastfeeding at various points:"When he gets teeth you're going to stop, right?"Depending on my mood, and my energy to deal with the particular person asking the question I would respond accordingly. Sometimes I would say:"Yes! I don't want to deal with that." Because clearly that is what the person wanted to hear. Or other times I would attempt to passively explain my cause."Well, I'm planning on nursing him for a year. So hopefully he won't have too many teeth along the way."The funny thing is, it wasn't the actual teeth that bothered me while I was nursing; it was when the teeth were getting ready to emerge from my son's [...]
Waaaaa! I want it now!
My son is 13 months, but you would think he was already two because...the tantrums have begun.He zooms up to my computer and bangs on the keyboard with his little hands which are surprisingly strong. I quickly run up to him, remove him from the situation and place him in front of a zillion baby-friendly toys as an alternative. He freaks out. He screams at the top of his lungs, he wails; tears streaming down his face. Did I mention that he is only 13 months old? The most frustrating aspect of this situation is that he is still a non-verbal being. My son does not yet use words to express himself. Instead he reacts by screaming, crying, screeching and babbling. Houston we have a problem! I cannot communicate with my child! Needless to say I've been at my wits end for the last couple of weeks. I've solicited the advice of many veteran mothers to combat the issue. Below are some of the pearls of wisdom they have offered: 1. Get him a toy computer. Clearly he is interested in the computer for a reason, give him a computer to play with that is all his own. My response: [...]
My Thoughts on The Jon & Kate Plus Eight “Scandal” Part II
I (like most of America) watched Jon and Kate Plus Eight last night. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have been a fan of the show for quite some time. It was a poignant episode for sure.The truth is, despite the success of their show, despite their celebrity status, their trips to exotic locations, the complimentary services and products their family has received, Jon and Kate Gosselin are just two ordinary people. Two people that found themselves in an extraordinary situation.They tried to make their marriage work despite the obstacles they were facing; providing for their eight children. Unfortunately, they decided to end their 10 year marriage as of yesterday.I was saddened watching the show. When I watched previous episodes, I thought to myself: if these two people could make their marriage work there was hope for the rest of the couples in America who didn't have eight children to provide for.I have to say, I was impressed by Kate's interviews on this particular episode. She was brutally honest; stating that she was afraid to "do this alone." "This" meaning raising eight children. And that when she realized that her marriage was over, she "let herself fall apart [...]
The Park Slope Parents Debacle Part II
I am happy to report that I received an apologetic email from the founder of the Park Slope Parents Yahoo Group. My great friend, Josina wrote an email to PSP stating the following: Hello, I have let my membership expire on purpose as I feel that it is not a worthwhile expense for my family to take on. I also was shocked at how your organization responded to an email (sent by a friend of mine, Sarah) questioning the purpose of this new membership fee. Your tone was dismissive and rude. You should be ashamed of yourself. Josina The founder of PSP responded to Josina with the following: Thank you for your email. I respect your decision. I am sorry you felt our tone was dismissive and rude. I'm not sure of the correspondence you are referring to or who responded, but it clearly left a negative impression and that is unfortunate. We've pooled many of the questions about the purpose of the new membership fee in a long document that we posted to the list and to the website. You can find that document here: <http://www.parkslopeparents.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=479&Itemid=543> That document may help you better understand why it was not worthwhilefor the [...]